Knowledge, Attitude and Perception on Rabies in Imo State, Nigeria

Rabies is an encephalitic viral and zoonotic disease of public health importance caused by rhabdovirus in the lyssa virus genus. This study to investigate knowledge, attitude and perception on rabies in Imo State – Nigeria with specific objectives to investigate knowledge on rabies in Imo State, to determine attitude and perception on rabies in Imo State and to ascertain the prevalence of rabies in Imo State based on review of veterinary records in the past ten (10) years was undertaken between January to July 2015 using standard pre-tested, revised questionnaires, interviews and records from ministries of health and agriculture to elucide data which were analyzed with statistical tools and inferential statistics of regression, correlation and statistical package for social science (IMB – SPSS, version 20). The results showed that about 920 (80%) of the respondents have heard about rabies,720(60%) were knowledgeable about the disease while less than half 560(45%) had scientific knowledge about the disease. the males are more knowledgeable than female about the disease while female had more scientific score on attitude than the males. only 51% of the respondents vaccinated their dogs against rabies, irrespective of 65% associated rabies with dog bite and can prevent rabies by vaccinating the dogs against rabies. veterinary record showed that rabies prevalence was 0.08%, while the study had a prevalence rate of 0.081. knowledge, attitude and perception were factors in rabies control and eradication in Imo state. Frequent publicity, enlightment, education and massive free dog vaccination are effective antidote against rabies.

Keywords: Knowledge, Attitude, Perception on rabies Imo State Nigeria